Whistle-blowers allege wrongdoing at VA center

WASHINGTON -- Employees at a Veterans Administration hospital in Mississippi have reported a range of "serious wrongdoing," including improperly sterilized instruments and missed diagnoses of fatal illnesses, an independent federal investigative agency said in a letter to the White House. The agency said the allegations raise doubt about the facility's ability to care for veterans. In the letter sent Monday to the White House and Congress, the Office of Special Counsel said an initial 2009 report by a whistle-blower employee at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., alleged that the staff routinely failed to properly clean and sterilize reusable medical equipment such as scalpels and bone cutters.